Combining experiments and DFT calculations, we show that tricoordinate Al(III) Lewis acid sites, which are present as metastable species exclusively on the major (110) termination of γ- and δ-Al(2)O(3) particles, correspond to the "defect" sites, which are held responsible for the unique properties of "activated" (thermally pretreated) alumina. These "defects" are, in fact, largely responsible for the adsorption of N(2) and the splitting of CH(4) and H(2). In contrast, five-coordinate Al surface sites of the minor (100) termination cannot account for the observed reactivity. The Al(III) sites, which are formed upon partial dehydroxylation of the surface (the optimal pretreatment temperature being 700 °C for all probes), can coordinate N(2) selectively. In combination with specific O atoms, they form extremely reactive Al,O Lewis acid-base pairs that trigger the low-temperature heterolytic splitting of CH(4) and H(2) to yield Al-CH(3) and Al-H species, respectively. H(2) is found overall more reactive than CH(4) because of its higher acidity, hence it also reacts on four-coordinate sites of the (110) termination. Water has the dual role of stabilizing the (110) termination and modifying (often increasing) both the Lewis acidity of the aluminum and the basicity of nearby oxygens, hence the high reactivity of partially dehyxdroxylated alumina surfaces. In addition, we demonstrate that the presence of water enhances the acidity of certain four-coordinate Al atoms, which leads to strong coordination of the CO molecule with a spectroscopic signature similar to that on Al(III) sites, thus showing the limits of this widely used probe for the acidity of oxides. Overall, the dual role of water translates into optimal water coverage, and this probably explains why in many catalyst preparations, optimal pretreatment temperatures are typically observed in the "activation" step of alumina.
Preparing highly active and stable non-noble-metal-based dry reforming catalysts remains a challenge today. In this context, supported nickel nanoparticles with sizes of 1.3 ± 0.2 and 2.1 ± 0.2 nm were synthesized on silica and ceria, respectively, via a two-step colloidal approach. First, 2-nm nickel-silicide colloids were synthesized from Ni(COD)(2) and octylsilane at low temperature; they were subsequently dispersed onto supports prior to reduction under H(2). The resulting catalysts display high activity in dry reforming compared to their analogues prepared using conventional approaches, ceria providing greatly improved catalyst stability.
Silica-supported Pt nanoparticles were prepared from well-defined surface platinum(II) surface species, obtained by grafting of well-defined Pt(II) molecular precursors with specific ligands (Cl, Me, N(SiMe(3))(2), OSi(OtBu)(3)) onto silica partially dehydroxylated at 200 and 700 °C yielding well-defined platinum(II) surface species. This approach allowed for testing the effect of Pt density and ligands on nanoparticle size. Higher grafting densities are achieved on silica partially dehydroxylated at 200 °C due to its initially higher surface silanol density. Surface species have been synthesized from symmetrical and dissymmetrical complexes, namely (COD)Pt(Me)(2), (COD)Pt(OSi(OtBu)(3))(2), (COD)Pt(Me)(OSi(OtBu)(3)), (COD)Pt(Me)(N(SiMe(3))(2)), (COD)Pt(Cl)(N(SiMe(3))(2)) and (COD)Pt(N(SiMe(3))(2))(OSi(OtBu)(3)) yielding mono-grafted complexes of general formula (COD)Pt(R)(OSi≡) according to elemental analyses, diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform (DRIFT) and carbon-13 solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies. While the dimethyl-complex shows low reactivity towards grafting, bis-siloxy and dissymmetric complexes demonstrate better reactivity yielding platinum loadings up to 7.4 wt%. Upon grafting amido complexes, the surface passivation yielding Me(3)SiOSi≡ surface species is demonstrated. Nanoparticles have been synthesized from these well-defined surface species by reduction under H(2) at 300 °C, under static or flow conditions. This process yields nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 2 to 3.3 nm and narrow size dispersion from 0.5 to 1.2 nm. Interestingly, the chloride complex yields large nanoparticles from 5 to 40 nm demonstrating the strong influence of chloride over the nanoparticles growth.
A new strategy for the asymmetric synthesis of chiral primary alpha-ferrocenylalkylamines has been utilized to generate homochiral redox-active receptors that bind chiral carboxylate anions with moderate enantioselectivity and undergo a redox response to complexation. [structure: see text]
A complete kinetic modeling of the polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) route is achieved for the first time through the investigation of the solid-state decomposition of a typical melt-spinnable poly[B-(methylamino)borazine] into boron nitride fibers at various heating rates. Through the use of the Lorentz fitting approach, it is shown that the two-step weight loss associated with the polymer-to-ceramic conversion is governed by a complex interplay of five diffusion-type transport mechanisms that are independent of the applied heating schedule. The application of the Friedman method to dynamic thermogravimetry data yields Ea and ln A values that are seen to increase with the extent of the ceramic conversion from region one (Ea = 38.73 kJ mol(-1)) to region five (Ea = 146.64 kJ mol(-1)). This fact indicates that both the mechanisms within those regions are parallel routes to the formation of the final solid-state material and their complexity increases with the conversion progress. The cross-linking process (first weight loss) of the polymer is governed by three dependent poorly energetic mechanisms. The first weight loss is activated by ammonolysis reactions that provide a modified polymer capable of undergoing condensation reactions in regions two and three to yield a highly cross-linked polymer. A large evolution of methylamine is identified during this process. Mineralization (region four) and ceramization (region five) steps are represented by two highly energetic multistep mechanisms. The mineralization step is associated with a large evolution of methylamine and occurs during the transition between the cross-linking and ceramization processes through the cleavage of the inter-ring B-N bonds. Ceramization represents the end of the polymer-to-ceramic conversion in which the planar consolidation of BN hexagons occurs through complex structural rearrangements of the borazine units (cleavage of the intraring B-N bonds) accompanied with an ammonia evolution. Finally, the simulation of the polymer-to-ceramic conversion was demonstrated through a simplified model that appropriately predicted experimental data.
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